Monthly Archives: July 2015

It’s taken a lot of work and frustration to get my new album to sound how it should. Sometimes, all it takes is removing an instrument, re-recording a phrase or adding a tiny detail. But knowing what to alter is the hardest part. I can get stuck in a cycle of adding more and more layers, but sometimes less is more.

We recorded most of the album back in April, went on tour in May, and spent June and July editing, re-recording, re-thinking the album. For a while, I thought the album was absolute turd. But the list of details, clean-ups and re-takes is getting smaller and I can hear the songs as they’re supposed to sound and I am so happy! It’s turning out to be dancey, fun, serious and silly and I can’t wait for people to hear it!

I remember recording the last album and mentally telling my future-self “this is hard! But don’t give up, just push through it!”

The one important thing I’ve learned while making this new album is: “drop the ego.” I’ve noticed that I have a notion of who I am and it fits into a me-shaped-mould. But I have to break out of that conception of myself to do what the song calls for.-That’s too rough / too sexy / too weak a thing for me to say.
-Just drop the fucking ego, get into the song, perform it, record it!
Self-doubt, comparing oneself to other artists, being over-sensitive to friends’ criticisms, are all part of my ego.

Today, I’m proud to say that we’ve made lots of progress and I feel grateful for the album being almost finished!!!!

The release is set for October. (The exact date will be announced soon.)

Now we’re driving off to the Maritimes (road trip with MY MOM!) to take part in Action Week and Messtival! Woohoo!

The soundman snorted lines of white powder off the mixing console. The show was being promoted as the venue’s last live show, because of too many noise complaints and visits from the Polizei.

The club owners were like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll would walk by smiling and say “Have anything you like, I’m here to help,” Hyde would walk by yelling at us for any number of reasons, like having someone on the guestlist, or trying to start the show too early. (And they were never in the same room at the same time…SUSPICIOUS!)
We didn’t perform until 2am because Hyde kept telling us to wait.

I was performing with SPT and the venue was full. SPT and I used to perform together for many years. He lives in Berlin and has gone viral (which I’m totally not jealous about…) You may know of him from the SHITs FUCKed video.
The performances ended as the sky lit up neon blue. The crowd was wonderful and the atmosphere of the venue was Berlin-esque, with concrete walls, found art and eccentric individuals.
We had agreed upon a 75/25 door money split, but when the time came to get paid, Hyde tried to convince us to take a 60/40 split! What the Hell?!
Thankfully, SPT did not agree to get hoodwinked and Hyde gave us our 75%.

The next day, Robert and I went to soundcheck at Gelegenheiten, which is run by an enthusiastic, smiling, happy collective (what a difference a day makes!)
The night was incredible! It was a Cyborg party, so I performed to a room packed with costumed Berliners. Terminators, tin-foil hats, people painted silver with red contact lenses and someone with a 6 million dollar price tag…(Get it?) Robert did amazing visual projections for my set.
The party was wild and very loud, but since it was the venue’s main party (held but once a year) they informed their neighbours well in advance…But that didn’t stop the police from showing up in the wee hours.

The next day we recovered by going to see Mad Max and having beers in the park with Robert’s old roomies.
We got up early to catch a plane to Paris and take in as much as we could in one day. It’s such a beautiful city full of people too busy to enjoy it. We went to Montmartre, Notre-Dame and a bar with my friend Laurent.
Then we took a train to Toulouse and caught our plane back home to Montreal. Another tour over, with a bucket-full of new memories.

Thank you to all the bookers, sound people, crash spots, audiences and friends for making this tour the most beautiful, gritty adventure I could ever dream of!